Slim Fast Shakes - makes a fair substitute meal

Pros:Convenience, decent nutrition, powder taste OK

Cons:Taste in cans not good, high in sugar

I'm 6'1", 195, and I have an athletic build. I also work out regularly which keeps the trash weight at bay. Why the hell would I even consider drinking a Slim-Fast Shake?

Actually I CAN answer that...

Time is not always on our side (apologies to the Rolling Stones). In fact, time is very often a great adversary. As much as I enjoy eating, I just don't have TIME or RESOURCES to prepare and sit down to a meal. Eating garbage like chips or candy bars is a bad proposition. I used to bring cereal to work and snack on that, which was better, but there was no protein in that and many carbohydrates, which when unused gets stored as fat. I kept passing by the Slim-Fast display at the store and it dawned on me that this might be a viable alternative. 220 calories, 10 grams of protein, decent RDA of vitamins and minerals, variety of flavors. Ok, I'm in for a 6-pack. At a buck per can, it appeared to be a relatively cheap meal.

The taste took getting used to, mostly on account of it being canned. I moved to the powder and the taste was better. I got to where I was having 2-3 cans worth of product a day in addition to my regular meals. I was not using it as part of a diet plan, rather I was using it as a supplemental meal/snack hybrid and it was serving me fairly well.

One day, though, I took a closer look at the nutrition label. I took stock of the composition of the 220 calories per serving and I didn't like what I saw. Only 3 grams of fat...OK...10 grams of protein...not bad...40 grams of carbohydrates, *35* of which are sugar. That puts it in Coca-cola territory, especially since the serving size of a Slim-Fast is 11 oz and the serving side of a Coke is 12 oz. I continued my Slim-Fast regimen but looked for alternatives with a better protein-to-carbohydrates ratio and ESPECIALLY a lower sugar-to-total-carbohydrates ratio. I soon found several more viable replacements and weaned off the Slim-Fast.

Final analysis: Slim-Fast makes a pretty fair occasional surrogate meal on the go and the price is good. For a more dedicated regimen, however, I would search the health food stores for a more nutritionally dense mix. You'll pay more, but better health is priceless!